What Will You Read This Month?

Use this post to let us know your reading plans for the month. Whether you're planning to read specific books, or only have a genre or mood in mind, or even if you have no idea what to pull out of your "to read" pile, share your thoughts here!
This feature is posted on the first Wednesday of every month. Click here for past posts. You can find the complete schedule of all weekly and monthly features at this link.

Hello!
Is Reddit a good place to make connections? Who knows, lets give it a try.
Anyways, I’m looking for some online friends to chat with. Lets talk about our day, hobbies, or anything random that comes up.
About me: 19, mixed race, bisexual, nerdy college student gal. I’m introverted and socially anxious so I find it easier to make online friends compared to irl ones. I grew up in a pretty isolating environment so I dont have much experience with partying or whatever young people do. I much rather chill at home than go out lol.
My hobbies include: reading manga/manhwa/webtoons, listening to music, drawing, watching movies/shows. I also love video games but its been awhile since i’ve played any (not including mobile). I’ll watch/read/listen to any genre so I have a lot of favorites! I’d love to swap spotify playlists or share our favorite series in dm’s.
Fair warning tho, I am very random when it comes to responding to messages. Sometimes i’ll reply fast and other times I’ll take hours lol, so i hope thats not a problem :)
What I’m looking for: someone within my age range, similar political ideology (im liberal leaning), and if you live in the PNW area, thats a plus! It would be so cool if we could meet up one day.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far! If you want to chat (short term or long term), send me a dm with an intro about yourself. Have a good day!

Hi, I'm Sap and I'm looking for a roleplay partner. :)
ABOUT ME & THE ROLEPLAY
I'm 20, so I'd like my partner to be 18+ as well.
I'm fine with any literacy, though I do prefer semi-literate roleplays since they're quicker but also descriptive enough to be enjoyable. English isn't my first language so I may sound a little awkward here and there but please bare with me<3 I don't mind typos or grammar mistakes as long as they don't make the text incomprehensible.
I'm usually very creative, so I'm sure I can come up with many ideas to keep us entertained. I'd also love to plan things together!
I'm a veeery chill and laid-back person, so you can feel free to be yourself around me. Don't be afraid to be silly or suggest anything. I also love to be friends and chit chat with the person I rp with.
I don't rp with OCs as main characters, sorry. :(
I love AUs! I really enjoy wondering how a character would act in a situation or universe that differs from their original media.
I'm fine with most genres, but I do need to add romance in every rp of mine. Sorry LMAO.
I prefer role-playing as female when it comes to leading characters. I don't mind roleplaying as male side characters though.
FANDOMS & PREFERRED PAIRINGS

• Fairy Tail (Natsu x Lucy)
• My Lv.999 Love for Yamada-kun (Yamada x Akane)
• Percy Jackson (Percy x Annabeth; Leo x Nico/Frank/Jason)
• Toilet bound Hanako-kun (Hanako x Nene)
• Lovely Complex (Otani x Risa)
• South Park (Butters x half the cast😭)
• Spy x Family (Anya x Damian) Attack on Titan (Armin x Eren)

If there's a manga/anime you really loved and want to rp from it, feel free to recommend it to me. If it interests me, I'll read it and we can rp from it (especially if it's a shoujo, i love them and think roleplays with characters from shoujos are so underrated!!)
Feel free to comment/dm me if you're interested<3

I’m hoping to find a genuine and lasting connection. I would appreciate starting a platonic one. And with time, it becoming romantic if the chemistry is there.
You:
Male, preferably between the ages of 30–35 due to generational compatibility. Or prove me wrong.
Single. No children but open to consider them in the future (but the way this economy is set up rn…).
No relationship baggage/drama. I’m down to swap horror stories though.
Don’t live perpetually on your phone/online.
Not strictly religious/spiritual and genuinely understand and respect other’s customs and beliefs.
Not strictly political but lean more left than right.
Kind and caring towards those around you and all beings.
Have your own interests and hobbies and/or down to share or start some together.
Introverted most of the time and extroverted when the situation calls for it.
Talk about anything and everything. Enjoy small talk but can also hold deep and lengthy conversations.
Can handle sarcastic and dark humor, and of course the corny kind too.
Don’t take yourself seriously but will when the occasion arises.
Do or don’t have your shit together– regardless you are conscious of your situation and work deliberately hard to ensure those around you aren’t negatively affected by it.
Love binge watching shows and gaming online but you’re also down for an outing on a regular basis and can even plan one without being asked.
Love sleeping in and being lazy but understand and honor the responsibility of waking up and getting shit done.
Not a drug user, cigarette smoker, or heavy drinker. I’m fine with you smoking weed, all I ask is you match.
Find joy in the little things. . . .
Me:
32, single with no kids. I’m a pet/plant mom to 2 dogs, 3 cats, and many houseplants. I can do without the pets but the houseplants must stay… It’d be hella cool if you were an animal lover though.
I work and go to school full time. Like most millennials, I moved back home in order to survive this ridiculous cost of living. A two-month marriage to my high school sweetheart could have also played a part in this decision.
I’m creatively driven when the inspiration hits. When it does, I’m writing, doodling/painting, amateur photographing & crocheting, or attempting to finish a vision board for the current year.
I enjoy bumping music of all genres (minus a few), gaming online (PS5 & Switch), being outdoors when the weather isn’t hot, walking my pups, reading, hanging out with my family and friends, cooking and baking, going out when my funds allow for it, and mentally planning camping trips that never happen.
I’m 5’9, currently on the heavier side (apron belly w/no kids, ugh I knowww). I’ve lost about 25lbs during recent months. Would be ideal if you were also pursuing a healthier lifestyle.
Other things you should consider before responding:
I’m not a drug user, cigarette smoker, or heavy drinker. I enjoy drinking alcohol but prefer consuming cannabis. Both in moderation now that I’m in my 30s.
I’m a first generation Mexican American raised in the hood trying hella hard to break unhealthy cycles.
I have depression but thanks to my anxiety, I’m high functioning. It’s actually a pretty neat life hack for me. laughs nervously
Anyway, I would appreciate finding someone who understands mental health struggles. Maybe on a personal level, maybe not. But someone who is patient and actively working toward a better life for themselves regardless.
So hit me up if this resonated with you.

My hobbies are: listening to music (i listen to any genre lol)
playing games (single player games. I absolutely love them)
Watching sports (football and volleyball)
Cooking (i don't do it much but it's always enjoyable)
Reading (though i stopped doing that recently)
My timezone is GMT+1
I always try to be a kind guy who's there to hear you out.

The fuck did I just read?
I.
There’s smut and then there’s whatever the fuck I just read.
I feel like reading this is going to make me go on a genre hiatus because.

My hobbies are: listening to music (i listen to any genre lol)
playing games (single player games. I absolutely love them)
Watching sports (football and volleyball)
Cooking (i don't do it much but it's always enjoyable)
Reading (though i stopped doing that recently)
My timezone is GMT+1
I always try to be a kind guy who's there to hear you out.

The first thing I want to knock out of the way is that this post is going to be a bit difficult. The arc of the argument is going to be that both films discussed, while superficially progressive, lapse into more bigoted territory by accident of uncareful metaphor. So to clarify at the top, no offense is meant. I will try to be as careful and neutral as I can be while discussing them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I saw I Saw the TV Glow recently. As I've been working through discussions, I decided that it ultimately reminded me of 2022's Nope (hard to believe that movie came out 2 years ago). Not because they're both A24 movies, not because they're both trippy, not even because they're both "elevated horror", but because I think both movies got too clever by half and shot themselves in the foot with their metaphors.
In an interview promoting Nope, Jordan Peele described this "elevated horror" genre as a trap. I think in that interview he was referring more to audiences' lofty expectations of his movies, and maybe even a narrowing of what he felt he could make. I think the more appropriate use of the term starts with the understanding that "elevated horror" tackling the topic of race is, for better or for worse, his brand. He is compelled, it seems, to make movies that start on thorny issues and expand creatively from there via metaphor. Unfortunately, no metaphor is one to one, and when you set out to create a metaphor for a thorny social issue, you run the risk saying something you likely don't mean. THIS is the real trap, in my estimation.
First, I'll run down my understanding of the metaphors in Nope. There may be interesting things to say about the UFO representing a stand-in for audiences, but I'd rather trace how the film deals with race. The opening shot is of Plate 626, Animal Locomotion. The idea conveyed is that even in the origins of film, white auteurs have been credited and lauded while using the black image as a sort of prop subject. The metaphor in the movie extends to the animals used on set, first shown in the horse in Plate 626. This is extended as well in the relationship between Jupe and Gordy, explicitly stating that Jupe felt like just as much of a gag as the trained monkey on set who went ballistic and killed the audience. Jupe learns the wrong lessons from this and tries to recreate the outright dominance and exploitation he understood in his showings of Jean Jacket, and he's consumed by it. OJ then exercises a proper form of dominance over his horse to successfully draw Jean Jacket to its death, captured in an image. The way I read this all, in the end, is that the movie stands as a metaphor for Jordan Peele's difficulty in reclaiming the black image in filmmaking, and the herculean task of guiding audiences to see black art in a new light. The throughline is the idea that black actors, from the beginning, have been exploited, erased, and written off of the artistic history of filmmaking, and Peele has been charged with writing the new filmic grammar for blackness.
Seems like that'd weigh heavy on anyone's shoulders. Perhaps if that were all, you might say, that's pretty cool. Only.... well... wasn't the first half drawing a lot of parallels between the exploited black actors and the exploited animals? With that in mind, we're left with two rather problematic points. The first point concerns OJ's relationship with horses in the end. He has a certain level of respect for his horses, but he needs to exercise complete control over it. He even blindfolds it for its own good near the end so that he can make the call of when to look at Jean Jacket (if I recall correctly). So, is it then to be read that the hierarchical dominance itself isn't the issue, but it just needs to be undertaken by someone who knows how to "respect" the animal in question? The black image needs to be reclaimed by black auteurs, sure, but is it because the assertion is being made that black auteurs know how to handle the black image, the black actors that comprise it? That black actors are still objects to be handled? And that ties to the second problematic read. If you're drawing a metaphor between black workers and working animals.... where does that metaphor end, exactly? They start as coequals, Plate 626 exploits a black actor in the exact same way it exploits a horse. It's not too much of a leap from there to extend the metaphor to the end and say that black actors, much like the animals they were compared to in the beginning, are dangerous and violent but can be handled and tamed to not be so. Gross territory. Peele certainly doesn't mean this, I feel rather confident saying that. But if someone said that was their read, how would you refute it with the text? Other than a "c-cmon, man. Stop trolling."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Saw the TV Glow tells the story of Owen, a young man who, as a child, first found expression through a 'girls show,' The Pink Opaque (as an aside, the film heavily implies that Owen is transfeminine. However, the character never transitions in the story proper. I'll stick to using he/him pronouns. I'm not 1000% certain the proper etiquette for this situation, but I think an argument can be made that it's clearer). Owen finds this show in seventh grade through Maddy, an oddball lesbian girl a couple years older than him. Owen spends nights at Maddy's house watching the show, she prepares taped episodes for him, and he develops a bit of a hidden persona through the show as he identifies with one of its protagonists (who is a girl). Maddy eventually loses herself into this TV world, she accepts who she is in a sense by entering this fictional reality. Owen tries to join her into the TV, but is caught by his step father and forcefully yanked out. Maddy disappears within it for a decade. When she returns, she finds Owen and tries to crack his egg by having him join her, by implying that The Pink Opaque was never just a show, but rather an elevated reality they can live in. In fact, an elevated reality they MUST live in, Maddy establishes life-or-death stakes. Owen doesn't accept this, he pushes Maddy down and runs away. He grows up, gets a normal life in the suburbs, finds that The Pink Opaque is nothing like he remembers, and gets a job at some sort of arcade. His existence is nightmarish there, until he strips down, slices open his chest, and sees the TV glowing inside.
What I often see in discussing the movie is that the central metaphor is one of "growing up", and the melancholy associated with a loss of one's childhood. And, every time that comes up, someone swiftly (and often, correctly) points out that the show is a metaphor for a queer or trans identity, and that there's a tragedy associated with Owen deciding that his trans identity is yet another thing he "grew out of" (though we should remember, he didn't just grow out of it; his step father beat it out of him). As trans visibility and acceptance has increased dramatically in the past 10 or so years, there are several older people who were bullied against transitioning up until now, and have decided to come out and live their truth. Concomitant with that is a deep tragedy of associating something so intrinsic to one's self with a childish foolishness to be grown out of. The movie understands this feeling and plays it tragically. Again, for clarity, I think the idea that The Pink Opaque is a metaphor for discovering ones trans identity is spot on. I just don't think that's a negation of the analyses that focus on the "growing up" aspect.
The unfortunate reality, for my taste, is that the movie falls apart in its third act when it tries to bring the metaphor between The Pink Opaque and trans identity home (with the help of some rather rough 'gaaah, i'm old now, gaaah' acting from Justice Smith). I claim that by associating trans identity with a pop culture fixation on one end, and an alternate reality on the other, the movie runs too close to bigoted conceptions of transness.
On the pop cultural fixation side, I think it's kind of belittling to tie something as heavy as trans identity with a flimsy and whimsical sort of "I really like this character on a TV show, I really identity with them." However, I think as an awakening of sorts, this is an entirely valid way to first interface with the idea you might be trans, and I don't find it to be an uncommon experience at all. Yet I think there's a lot more subsequent depth to developing one's identity that's not really explored in the movie. So, okay, shallow-to-the-point-of-being-kind-of-offensive, sure, not too big a deal, and sometimes shallowness allows the audience to construct their own depth to fill in and make the telling more personal. If someone took offense, I get it, if someone really connected with it, I get it.
On the other hand, I find the alternative reality side deeply troubling. Many live lives more blessed than mine, but I have the misfortune of consuming an unhealthy amount of right-wing, bigoted content. Their principle understanding of trans identity is that it is some sort of psychopathology characterized by a rejection of reality, right down to a negation of one's inherent genetic code (accompanied with a perpetual refusal to distinguish between sex and gender). It's not difficult to see why this is a terrain they fight on; they believe in a naturalized sex/gender hierarchy which can't really tolerate any sort of plasticity. And while the Right doesn't have a great relationship with biology in general, they've somehow clung to a flawed understanding of biology as the bedrock of this "reality" that trans people reject. Stirred into all this is a comorbid belief that those of the "left", the "woke", whatever, refuse to "grow up" and don't want to have jobs, don't want to take responsibility, don't want to face reality. The movie itself doesn't as strongly say "thinking you 'grew out' of your trans identity is a tragedy" as much as it says "growing up at all is a tragedy." It has to because it chose a childhood pop culture fixation as its load-bearing metaphor. Run this way, in my view, the film confirms the most hateful and bigoted perceptions of trans identity on the right. If you were to say the movie is about how people get bored in the suburbs and decide they miss the feeling of being a kid, the attention they got, the tv shows they watched, and just have a breakdown and call that being trans, I'd have a hard time arguing against that. Again, I don't agree, the same way I don't agree with that interpretation of Nope I made above. But I can't clearly point to the text and refute that read.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the end, cultural hegemony presents a sort of "heads I win, tails you lose" paradigm to any sort of effort to displace it. That's what happens when a totalized, supremacist system articulates itself culturally, you end up running into these thorny patches. None of this is new, people were writing about the inability to navigate between cultural perceptions of the Mammy or the Jezebel at least as early in the 90s. Perhaps the road for these progressive, elevated films has been so narrowed by a culture that, 20 years ago, would flat-out reject them, that we're just going to have to go through some growing pains. Perhaps there will come a day where there aren't rather active (not to mention politically powerful) groups that view black people as animals or trans people as psychos, and those reads simply won't follow. Yet it may also be the case that mere representation isn't enough, and marginalized audiences should still demand more effort and care in these sorts of "elevated horror" films. I think there's still plenty of profound human experience that can be focused through these sorts of 'Metaphors of the Marginalized'. For now, for me, both films really fell apart because they knew they needed a progressive metaphor to hook in audiences, but they fell into the trap of not thinking it all the way through. I think we can do better.

i am kind of bored and tired of reading about the fmc who is tough, doesn't cry, doesn't feel much, doesn't laugh, excels at fighting, is the brightest, the prettiest but doesn't realize, has never wore a dress in her life it sort of protagonist.
i want to read more stories with female characters who are naive, can't stomach a lot of violence, whose femininity and softness makes her unique, examples can be Evangeline from once upon a broken heart series or Cress from lunar chronicles.
these characters although not as witty or physically strong are still intelligent and loveable.
i am open to all genres but fantasy is my favorite with a good sprinkle of romance. thank you :-)

Hello to those whom have stopped by!
I'm going to keep this short, sweet and simple. whilst also making this post long enough in length to pass the word count needed to make a post on this subreddit.
First of all I would like to mention that I don't have a particular plot in mind for this one,but I do still have ideas I would love to discuss and brainstorm together with those who are in fact interested.
The elements or genres that I would love there to be in this are the following; Romance, fantasy, drama and action. If any of these aren't your go to or you don't like these then I'm sorry but this post isn't for you.
I do have a few ground rules or requirements, so that there are no misunderstandings and to also ensure I'm comfortable as well as my Roleplay partner. It also acts as a guild to those reading to determine whether or not this is still something you'd be interested in doing.
Now here are the requirements
-Must be in this age bracket (18 - 22) as this is what age group I am in and comfortable with. (DON'T LIE ABOUT YOUR AGE! AND NO MINORS)
-Have at least a year's worth of Roleplay experience or higher
-Able to write in third person and literate (NO ONE LINERS IN ROLEPLAY RESPONSES OR WHEN INTRODUCING YOURSELF)
-Able to use a different platform to roleplay. For example: Discord, google docs etc.
-Put effort into introducing yourself
Those are the main 5 requirements needed and it frustrates me to no end when someone just quickly looks over the post and then just puts singular word or short sentence when reaching out and expects me to think we are interested when in reality they are probably not and I'm know I'm not the only one dealing with this kind of thing but it's still a kick in the guts nevertheless.
Here is just a bonus for those who have read this far and if you can put it somewhere in your introduction response that would be much appreciated!
Guess where this quote is from (no cheating either): “If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a wrench.”

TL;DR - Primarily need helping structuring, formatting & editing. Do NOT need help coming up with ideas, for the most part. (Some help w/ technical knowledge needed.)
Wondering if anyone can point me to a good comparison article (ugh, so many) or just tell me from experience what software to use if I primarily need help with formatting, editing and occasional content help (particularly with technical stuff I don't fully understand)?
I'm writing a sci-fi novel. (It's my actually my first novel ever, which is hard enough, let alone the genre I've chosen and the fact that I'm disabled by ADHD etc, but the muse chose me on this one, so here we are.) I have a long outline/brainstorm but it's definitely messy and I need help organizing this thing and actually finishing it.
[SIDE NOTE: I paid for a workshop by an award-winning author and, to my chagrin, she refuses to read any of it. Not because it's a mess - she's never even seen it - because she says my writing should speak for itself... 🙄 True, but I am in over my head here with zero fiction experience.]
My boyfriend suggested chat gpt, but if I could buy something that could handle all of the formatting, structuring, editing, and can help me get this thing (with the few scenes I have written for it) off the ground, I would pay for it (as long as it's not exorbitant).
Features I'm looking for:
STANDARD (from what I gather): - editing and grammacorrections (standard for all writing software, but maybe better with AI?) - developing and creating characters & scenes - IMPORTANT: Built-in formatting options for submissions (I suck at this) - CRITICAL: structuring my concept brainstorm! - HUGE BONUS (maybe GPT can handle it?): helping me write scenes that involve complex science without requiring me to cram a bunch of astrophysics into my overcrowded brain. - EXTRA BONUS: ability to adapt one format to another, such as novel to screenplay
TVMIA! 🙏

YO :D Im Jiya, An American from the East Coast! Im currently in the process of moving up north and have PLENTY to explain about if you wanna know further lol.
I like Playin stuff like fortnite and fighting games like guilty gear, but I'm open to really any genre! recently I've been going back to slay the spire and having a great time!
Im also a big fan of the arts, mainly Animation and music, I love listening to other peoples music! (gives me a good idea of their Tastes)
In terms of Music, My favorite artists recently have been porter robinson,TWRP, and Lemon demon! But I recently also listened to Frankenchrist by Dead Kennedys and LOVED it! Maybe we could talk about it :3
Finally as for animation, Ive been loving the new smiling friends season and have recently been rewatching Jojos Bizzare adventure (for the 3rd time lol) with my friend. My all time favorite definitely goes to Adventure time however, I could discuss the show in LENGTHS lol
I am an artist myself as well! Ive enjoyed making stuff practically my whole life and hope to one day work in the animation industry! If you're an artist too or just curious maybe we could show each other our works :)
Ill stop there because I've DEFINITELY Yapped way too much by now but I hope for those still reading that you and I can strike up a convo! look forward to hearing from you all.

Just for fun and facts:
I've been working on a blurb (with two drafts posted in selfpub so far) for which I've been having trouble finding the sweet spot between description and brevity. My initial drafts went for brevity, but the feedback I received (with thanks) generally asked for more description.
Wanting to know what a typical word count for a blurb is nowadays, I did a small survey by genre on Amazon. I started with a known writer in the genre, then randomly picked another book in the 'also read,' looking for a mix of well-known to barely known (as determined by the number of ratings). All books listed below reviewed at 4 stars or better, fyr.
Takeaways: The average blurb word count for all genre's is 250 words. SciFi surprised me with the lowest blurb count of 171 words--I was expecting it to be similar to Fantasy's 373 word count (as not only the story but the setting has to be described). Granted, it's a small survey, but still a surprising low count. I would also say that the well-known authors can get away with larger word counts, since they already have an audience. Last, from this small survey, I'd say a blurb needs to range from 150 words to 300 words, with the sweet spot being around 250 words. Good luck.
~Romance~
Nicholas Sparks / Dreamland: A Novel / 27,988 ratings / 300 words
Anita Shreve / Eden Close / 927 ratings / 150 words
Kristina McMorris / The Edge of Lost / 7,289 ratings / 190 words
Colleen Hoover / It Ends with Us / 321,646 ratings / 185 words
Weston Parker / Fake it For Us (A Faux Love Novel) / 966 ratings / 180 words
Jennifer Crusie / Lavender's Blue (Book 1) / 2,229 ratings / 310 words
Jess K Hardy / Come As You Are: A Gen X Romance (Book 1) / 755 ratings / 260 words
Romance Blurb Average of Books Surveyed: 225 words

~Mystery~
David Baldacci / The Edge (6:20 Man Book 2) / 28,413 ratings / 400 words
Frank Curtiss / Deception in Siena: An Antonio Cortese Mystery (Book 1) / 159 ratings / 195 words
HN Wake / Sound of a Furious Sky: FBI Agent Domini Walker Book 1 / 4,194 ratings / 225 words
Richard Sanders / The Dead Are A Tough Market To Crack / 44 ratings / 110 words
Mystery Blurb Average of Books Surveyed: 232 words

~SciFi~
Andy Weir / Project Hail Mary: A Novel / 123,302 ratings / 185 words
Michael C. Grumley / Breakthrough / 38,403 ratings / 180 words
Paul Dixon / Carpathians / 1,899 ratings / 120 words
C.P. Schaefer / The Kuiper Rogue / 43 ratings / 200 words
SciFi Average of Books Surveyed: 171 Words

~Fantasy~
Brandon Sanderson / The Way of Kings (Book 1) / 68,942 ratings / 585 words
M. L. Wang / The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story / 7,092 ratings / 250 words
James Islington / The Will of the Many (Book 1) / 5,222 ratings / 265 words
Elise Kova / A Duet with the Siren Duke (Married to Magic) / 2,257 ratings / 390 words
Fantasy Blurb Average of Books Surveyed: 373 words
Average of the Averages (4 genres): 250 words

Just as the title suggests, I'm going to share a rant/my own thoughts on the series as both a manga reader (I've read up to the latest chapter 118 and most of the side story manga) and an anime watcher (up to Season 3, episode 9).
I've enjoyed the world-building that the story has provided me with, but I wish the manga would spend more time explaining the economy of JTF (Jura Tempest Federation). Perhaps the light novel addresses this aspect, but as someone who loves civilization genres, I crave more detail on how their economy works (the side story offers some insight into the money system, but I desire more information), such as their tax system, how families survive in the city, and so on.
Lack of real dangeconsequences! I feel like there are no real threats to Rimuru at all, and I wish the goblin and Shion had stayed dead. Death doesn't seem to hold much meaning in the series, as characters always come back to life. Having Shion remain dead would make Rimuru realize the dangers of the world and prioritize the safety of his people, understanding when to be ruthless against humans. He is overly friendly, and perhaps I desire a somewhat more realistic story, where he comprehends the consequences of his actions and ideals.
Power system! I dislike how the power system works in Rimuru's world; it's somewhat confusing for a casual reader. The anime and manga lack information about demon ranks (for example, is a demon peer equivalent to a demon lord?). Also, there are three different methods to calculate a monster's danger level. I know that Rimuru will eventually attain a demon lord level, which I find troubling because the power scaling is too rapid.
That's all for today!

Good evening all,
Im a night owl in the eastern timezone. I usually work weekends (F/S/S) and I’m off all other days. I play a ton of Dead by Daylight mainly, but I’m also into stardew valley (and a lot of similar games in that genre) and would love to start a group farm on PC (or switch but switch seems alot less reliable than PC.
Aside from gaming my other hobbies are:

• Knitting (though I haven’t worked on a project in a pretty long time)
• Dead by Daylight
• Cooking
• Adoring cats
• Reading (Always wanted to be in a book club but seems like they all meet on weekends)
• Stranger things (can’t wait for season five!) And lots of other live action shows. I used to be into anime but not so much anymore, I’m still pretty familiar with the older stuff and might get back into it one day as I did have a long ass list I made years ago.
• Writing/roleplaying
• Dead by Daylight

I prefer texting over voice calling when I first meet people unless we're playing a co-op game. When you message me please include "I totally get that you prefer texting" so I know you read and understand that.

Good evening all,
Im a night owl in the eastern timezone. I usually work weekends (F/S/S) and I’m off all other days. I play a ton of Dead by Daylight mainly, but I’m also into stardew valley (and a lot of similar games in that genre) and would love to start a group farm on PC (or switch but switch seems alot less reliable than PC.
Aside from gaming my other hobbies are:

• Knitting (though I haven’t worked on a project in a pretty long time)
• Dead by Daylight
• Cooking
• Adoring cats
• Reading (Always wanted to be in a book club but seems like they all meet on weekends)
• Stranger things (can’t wait for season five!) And lots of other live action shows. I used to be into anime but not so much anymore, I’m still pretty familiar with the older stuff and might get back into it one day as I did have a long ass list I made years ago.
• Writing/roleplaying
• Dead by Daylight

I prefer texting over voice calling when I first meet people unless we're playing a co-op game. When you message me please include "I totally get that you prefer texting" so I know you read and understand that.

Good evening all,
Im a night owl in the eastern timezone. I usually work weekends (F/S/S) and I’m off all other days. I play a ton of Dead by Daylight mainly, but I’m also into stardew valley (and a lot of similar games in that genre) and would love to start a group farm on PC (or switch but switch seems alot less reliable than PC.
Aside from gaming my other hobbies are:

• Knitting (though I haven’t worked on a project in a pretty long time)
• Dead by Daylight
• Cooking
• Adoring cats
• Reading (Always wanted to be in a book club but seems like they all meet on weekends)
• Stranger things (can’t wait for season five!) And lots of other live action shows. I used to be into anime but not so much anymore, I’m still pretty familiar with the older stuff and might get back into it one day as I did have a long ass list I made years ago.
• Writing/roleplaying
• Dead by Daylight

I prefer texting over voice calling when I first meet people unless we're playing a co-op game. When you message me please include "I totally get that you prefer texting" so I know you read and understand that.

Building the ‘One Piece’ Live-Action TV Series: How Netflix Earned Eiichiro Oda’s Blessing to Turn a Manga Treasure Into Streaming Gold
The breakout popularity of “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday” was a boon for Netflix execs, but also a lesson — both forced a scramble to line up marketing and licensing deals after launch. If the streamer’s upcoming fantasy-adventure series “One Piece” similarly turns into a phenom — as the early hype indicates — this time they’ll be ready.
Of all the titles promoted out of Netflix’s June 17 Tudum fan event, “One Piece” — the live-action TV series adaptation of the bestselling manga — was the most talked about, outpacing everything else featured at the São Paulo affair four to one, according to Netflix. “One Piece” lead actor Iñaki Godoy has seen his Instagram following spike from 28,000 to 450,000 ahead of the show’s Aug. 31 premiere.
“I think we were all stunned, truly stunned,” Netflix head of U.S. and Canada scripted series Peter Friedlander told Variety. “We knew that there was a big fan base, but to watch those actors step out onstage, you could barely hear anything. They could barely get words out, and it was really an emotional experience just watching the actors.”
Based on Eiichiro Oda’s long-running manga and anime of the same name, “One Piece” has a built-in fan base eager to see mystically stretchy, aspiring pirate king Monkey D. Luffy (newcomer Godoy) and the Straw Hat Pirates — Nami (Emily Rudd), Sanji (Taz Skylar), Zoro (Mackenyu) and Usopp (Jacob Romero) — set sail on their ship, the Going Merry, this week on Netflix. The crew is in search of the world’s greatest treasure, the elusive “one piece,” with the marines on their heels each wave of the way.
“It’s heartening to see the early reaction just to what we’ve shown,” Friedlander said. “With the teaser and trailer we’ve put out, we were trying to show the fans we’re loving on this IP, we are loving on this show and we hope you see that. I feel very hopeful and confident going into this.”
As the launch approaches, Netflix’s marketing and PR teams have begun steering this ship, stoking fan interest with 10 events worldwide — including in Los Angeles, Paris, Jakarta and Tokyo — before its premiere. And the consumer products division is at the ready with a Zara “One Piece” clothing line set to debut later in September, after the show launches. On deck is even more merch at such outlets as Hot Topic, Bandai, Hot Toys, Mexico’s Liverpool and the U.K.’s HMV.
This kind of prep is unprecedented for a first-season show — and it signals Netflix’s faith in “One Piece’s” future. That’s in spite of its last attempt at adapting popular Japanese IP into a live-action series, the John Cho-led “Cowboy Bebop.” Years in the making, the sci-fi space Western was a flop, and was canceled less than a month after its November 2021 release.
“What we learned is the fans are expecting you to be true to the source material,” says executive producer Marty Adelstein, whose Tomorrow Studios produced “Cowboy Bebop” for Netflix before embarking on “One Piece.” “As we read the comments, it was always, ‘Well, they didn’t do this character the same as this and that.’ … It really taught us a lot of what we needed to do with this one.”
The backlash to “Cowboy Bebop” also served as a warning that an adaptation of the equally beloved “One Piece” would face just as many potential critics. But with Oda and “One Piece” manga publisher Shueisha producing the project, Tomorrow Studios and Netflix had the best team possible to keep the series true to its source material.
“It became everyone’s goal to make sure that when you looked at the show, you thought this was a live-action version of the manga that just felt like another feather in the legacy of Oda,” says Becky Clements, the president of Tomorrow Studios, which landed the rights to develop “One Piece” into a live-action series in partnership with Oda and publisher Shueisha in 2017. “That people just get to see it in another genre, but still have the same reaction and feelings toward the narrative.”
Netflix picked up the series in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world. It soon developed a “nakama” — a bonded team, as Luffy and his Straw Hats are described in “One Piece” — of U.S., Japanese and Korean Netflix executives devoted to the adaptation, according to Friedlander.
“We hadn’t done something like that before,” Friedlander says. “The logistics of that — late-night calls, early morning calls, emails — it just changes the recipe of how you would help support a show, and I think that really was a special element, a little bit of the secret sauce, because we wanted to have different perspectives on the fandom.”
“One Piece” co-showrunner Steven Maeda, who developed the series alongside Matt Owens, says the show, which was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, and is Netflix’s largest-ever production in Africa, had “a healthy, healthy, healthy budget” and the stamp of approval from Oda throughout the entire process.
On Aug. 18, Netflix Japan’s YouTube account shared two videos that included quotes from “One Piece” production notes given by Oda to Netflix execs, in order to show fans just how involved Oda was and what he personally signed off on.
Oda’s note to Netflix:
To Netflix:
We need to consider the worst-case scenario.
I can’t say something is good when it isn’t.
This is very good, but we can do even better.
The fans trust me. So I can’t lie to them.
We actually found our real-life Luffy. I’m shocked.
I’m touched by the love of ONE PIECE sprinkled through out every frame.
From Eiichiro Oda
Netflix’s response to Oda:
To Eiichiro Oda:
A 1:1 re-enactment is impossible.
Live-action adaptation isn’t about replication. It’s expression.
We’re not at all satisfied yet, either.
We want to rewrite the history of live-action adaptations.
We have two goals. To not betray the fans. And to have the show be loved by those who don’t yet know ONE PIECE.
From Netflix
“Let’s make something great.”
With the utmost respect for Oda and his work top of mind for Owens and Maeda, Maeda says it was “tremendously challenging to make any kind of changes to such a beloved property.” But some changes still needed to be made.
“When Oda-san was writing the manga, there was no sense of an eight-episode television season — he writes in his own timetable, and his own structure for how he sees the storyline of the characters,” Maeda says. “That said, he did give me a very lovely section of the first 100 chapters of the ‘One Piece’ manga — and I won’t give any spoilers yet, but [the live-action ‘One Piece’] tries to craft the 100 chapters into eight episodes of television that have to have their own rise and fall and story arc.”
With early hype strong but post-launch viewership unavailable until the Netflix Top 10 comes out next Tuesday, Friedlander “truly” hopes “One Piece” is a “successful show that can continue, because I do believe that Oda-san has crafted an ongoing run of stories and adventures and characters that I would love to see realized through ‘One Piece’ live-action.” And though Friedlander can’t make any premature promises about “One Piece” Season 2–and knows Netflix viewers have concerns about early-on cancellations, including “Cowboy Bebop” — he points to the streamer’s recent track record for renewing genre shows that meet fans’ expectations.
“You can’t get it right every time,” Friedlander said. “You hope that with creative passion and storytellers that you do. And that’s what I’m here for, is to support the storytellers and how they interpret and adapt and experience an IP. And I think we’ve had a pretty impressive run when you think about just within the last year with ‘The Sandman’ and ‘Wednesday.’ And I do think we are able to adapt some of these IP into something that’s extraordinary and unexpected, and still truly honor what it is.”
As for Owens and Maeda’s plans for a Season 2, Maeda says they are “definitely taking it one step at a time,” simply because of the decades of “One Piece” material Oda-san has given them to work with that lead to “so many possibilities and endless permutations.”
Right now, the focus is just on launching that “One Piece” Season 1 ship out into the East Blue Sea.
“Along with Oda-san’s oversight and cooperation and partnership, I think that we came up with the very best version of this show that we can,” Maeda says. “I can’t complain that money wasn’t spent, I can’t complain that our hands were tied — we were able to make the show we wanted to make.”
This story has been expanded from the version printed in the Aug. 23 issue of Variety. The quotes from co-showrunner Steven Maeda were obtained during an interview organized by contacting Maeda’s publicist, not through Netflix, in accordance with WGA strike rules.

(M4F) looking for more partners!
(Not replacing anyone just looking for one or two more)
Hi! I’m a 24 M in the CST time zone with about 10+ years experience in roleplaying. I enjoy just about every genre but have the most experience writing Fantasy, SoL, and Sci Fi. That being said I’m not afraid to try something new! I don’t have any plots at the moment but that’s just because I like to create those with my partner. I’m looking for someone who’s creative, story driven, loves deep complex characters, and enjoys world building
If you saw one of my previous posts and I didn’t end up getting back to you, feel free to message again! Sometimes I hustle get overwhelmed by the amount of messages that come in lmao
If you’re interested please read my rules below, I promise I’m not too strict.
• be 18+ no minors!
• be flexible in your responses. I love detailed and long replies, but they have their place. For example shorter replies provide an easier flow with there’s a conversation happening between the ocs, hopefully that makes sense.
• if for some reason you have to step away or won’t be able to respond for a few days, please let me know ahead of time (the password is your favorite fictional character)
• be collaborative when it comes to the storytelling, neither of us want to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to creating conflicts, world building, etc.
•have good grammar please
I’m also interested in a host of fandoms ranging from live action media to anime, but there’d be a lot to list and this post is long enough as is lmao, also I only do oc x oc for fandoms, but I don’t mind picking up the role of a canonic character when it’s appropriate
If you agree with those rules and think you might be good a fit shoot me a dm, and let me know your age, gender, what you enjoy about rping, and any ideas you have! also if you read the whole thing, make sure to include the password
Cheers!

Well hey there! I’m your basic white boy thats been incredibly bored latelyand would love to have someone to chat to while I avoid going insane. If you are interested in taking me up on this request, I do hope that you come with a little humor and not send a “hey” to begin. Let me know a little about you to start. I will do my very best to provide an entertaining conversation.
About myself- I love watching films of any genre, I’m a terrible cook that keeps trying, my music taste is one to predicted, I grew up playing sports, love to be outdoors, hiking is always great, trying to get into reading again ( used to read all the time but have been slacking a bit), as stated above I am white along with tall and blonde, not really a gamer but have played some basic
If any of this peaked your interest send me a chat!